scar nominations and critical acclaim for big time roles, Armie Hammer led a seemingly picturesque life. His career was flourishing, with a booming fanbase from success in movies like “Call Me by Your Name.” However, recent claims were released about the actor regarding cannibalism, sexual assault and erotic sexual behavior including BDSM. 

While the actor chalks the accusations up to the insanity of quarantine, it seems this story dates back to a deeper and darker past in which Hammer indulged in suggestive, fanatical illusions revolving around rape and cannibalism, according to an in-depth exposé by Vanity Fair.

In one fell swoop, Hammer’s entire life crumbled before his eyes. Upon finding himself trapped to quarantine in the Cayman Islands, Hammer’s marriage fell under significant scrutiny, ultimately ending in divorce. This began his fatal bender that resulted in the scandalous messages resurfacing between Hammer and various women, who revealed accounts of emotional abuse, manipulation and intense sexual fantasies. As Hammer romanced a multitude of young lovers back in the U.S., his life fell into ruins as more vulgar messages continued to emerge. 

The leaked texts sent to unsuspecting women included Hammer detailing fantasies of eating their bodies and raping them, in so few words. Though the texts are undoubtedly strange and distasteful as more information was revealed about this, I couldn’t help but think that his life was being destroyed because of a strange fetish being blown out of proportion. 

The scandal initially seemed to be a complete over exaggeration of decidedly kinky texts that any other person with strong sexual desires and fantasies would send. In fact, I was on Hammer’s side initially, not fully understanding how mere messages proved to derail his life in such a significant way. While the texts were indeed raunchy and uncalled for, there were no accounts of Hammer ever performing such acts as seeing “your brain, your blood, your organs, every part of you. I would definitely bite it” or “you crying and screaming, me standing over you. I felt like a god,” as Vanity Fair reports. If the texts were simply just texts, then what is all the outrage for?

Though I initially did not think these weird, kinky tests warranted the ending of Hammer’s career, I couldn’t help but feel this narrative was incomplete. A few weeks after the scandal first broke, the first victim revealed herself to recount an incident back in 2017 in which Hammer violently raped her for hours.  

The victim, calling herself Effie, detailed her head being slammed against the wall leaving her with bruises on her face among other non-consensual acts of rage and violence. Effie recalled being frightened for her life and unable to escape Hammer, before he ultimately left her with no concerns for her well-being. For all we know at this point, Effie could be the first of many women who have fallen victim to Hammer’s insane sexual tendencies. What once would have been seen as passion and charm in the height of his career has proven to be nothing more than vile and disgusting treatment of women.

At this moment, sexual assault is frighteningly rampant and has proven to be present even here on campus. Men think they have the right to treat women in such demeaning and vulgar ways when they simply do not. Looking back on my initial thoughts of Hammer’s downfall, the messages should have been a sign that something deeper and darker was going on. No person would send such freakish messages without having an ulterior motive, and Hammer has proven this to be true. 

The time when men think they can do as they please with no consequences for their actions needs to come to an end. I am sick of hearing story after story describing men taking advantage of women simply because they think they can. This behavior needs to be extinguished immediately, and women should be, and deserve to be, viewed as equals, not bodies men can abuse whenever they feel like it.